Problems and Answers
by laurenwrites
Summary: "Beck, come with me to get some coffee." The tone of her voice sounds to anyone as if it's him saving her from staying at the table any longer, when in reality he's never been so glad to fulfill one of her commands. Bade.


**This was a request by an anon on Tumblr and I just sort of got carried away.**

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"Beck… _Beeeeeeck_? Yoo-who, earth to Beck…"

Andre's lingering pulls his spaced-out friend back to the present, where he finds everyone at their table to be staring at him. Everyone, that is, except for his girlfriend.

"Don't you have anything to say about this stupid assignment?"

He racks his brain as he tries to remember what had just happened in their calculus class. Truthfully, he hadn't heard a single word the whole hour. He's about to give up and simply ask what the assignment is when Jade speaks up instead.

"He's fine with it," she answers for him as he feels her soft hand rubbing against his back. They're sitting close enough to each other that no one can see her affectionate touch behind his body, which makes it even more personal to him. "Beck likes math."

Andre furrows his eyebrows. "Beck _hates_ math. And this assignment is fifty problems…"

"Even _I_ think that's kinda ridiculous," Robbie pipes up.

"Maybe Beck and Jade are just trying to look at the positive side," Cat suggests happily.

"_Jade_?" Tori repeats incredulously. "_Positive_?"

"Ha!" Rex interjects.

Still, Beck says nothing.

"We're working on it together," Jade explains. "Beck, come with me to get some coffee." The tone of her voice sounds to anyone as if it's _him_ saving _her_ from staying at the table any longer, when in reality he's never been so glad to fulfill one of her commands.

The couple heads over past the Jet Brew booth, leaving their friends wondering what had Beck so wacked out this morning. When they're back inside the school, he follows Jade into the janitor's closet.

"How's today?" She asks, grabbing his hand and waffling her fingers with his.

"It's alright." It's nice that he doesn't have to explain to her how his dad had threatened to move out just a couple of nights ago, because she'd been in his RV with him as it happened. "It's just still surreal, I guess."

"I know," she sighs, leaning against the wall next to him. "You know I know what you're going through."

"And I'm sorry that you do," he mutters. "I can't believe this happens in fifty percent of families these days… How do people do that—fall in love, get married, have kids together, and then just…let it crumble… It makes no sense to me; it's sick."

Jade is quiet for a minute as she reminisces on the horror that had been her upbringing in the West home. As many happy memories as she may make in the future, she'll never forget the screams of her alcoholic father constantly trying to swing on Jade and her mom.

Jade keeps her hand in his and moves apart from the wall so she can face him. "When we were freshman and this was happening to me," she says, their chests getting closer together, "I had _you_… Just because we're eighteen doesn't mean make this whole thing any less suck-ish. You have me, too. Okay?"

"Jade, I don't want you to have to—"

"Beck," she cuts him off, staring straight into his eyes. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

Her words take a weight off of his chest—one he didn't comprehend the heaviness of until she's lifted it—and he can't help but lean in to kiss her. As he presses his lips against hers, she clasps her hands around his neck and allows him to pull her in closer. Jade knows that she's supposed to be the one helping _him_, so she senses a twinge of guilt when she feels so comforted by his arms wrapping around her back.

After a minute or so, he draws her into a sweet hug, where she nestles her head into his neck. As Beck holds her tightly, he promises that—if his plan to marry her someday is successful—he'll never do to his family what his father has done to his.

"I love you," he says as he pulls back to face her again.

Jade brings her hands to cup his cheeks and she kisses him again. "I love you, too."

.

"Hey," Robbie greets his friends at Tori's house that afternoon. He's the third one to show up, the couple of the group still not having arrived yet. "You guys ready to get started on this?"

"For sure," Andre replies. "I texted Beck that he and Jade can come work on it with us, but he didn't respond… I don't know what's up with him lately."

"He has been _really_ spacey," Tori adds.

"Jade hasn't said anything," Cat confesses in her disappointed voice. "It's weird."

"Well, hopefully they'll show."

"You sure you want to do this?" Jade asks as they approach the door of the Vega house.

"Yeah…it'll be nice to take my mind off of things, and I don't wanna be at my house right now," he confirms, squeezing her hand.

After knocking on the door, Beck kisses his girlfriend just before Andre swings the door open. "Hey, guys," he greets. "Good to see you."

"Maybe you can help us with these problems, Beck," Robbie says from the couch. "You know, now that you like math."

Jade rolls her eyes and leads Beck to sit on the couch with her, where the two of them pull out their textbooks. After splitting up the questions, Beck is making decent progress on the first one (he's really terrible at math, though) when his phone goes off in his pocket. Immediately after reading it, he sulks back into a bemused daze.

Jade, the only one to pick up on his distracted nature, looks at his paper to see which problems he'd been given. Without him even noticing (and in time for all of them to exchange answers), she's done all of both of their combined problems.

"Beck, your turn," Tori announces, pulling him back into the conversation. "What are numbers 8-15?"

"Um," he stammers, "they're, um…"

Jade moves her paper to be right in his line of vision, allowing him to flawlessly read off the answers that he was supposed to have contributed.

"Sweet," Andre says. "Cat, 16-17?"

As the murmur of discussion begins on whether or not the first answer of Cat's two given problems is correct, Jade turns her head to face Beck's. "Everything okay?"

He sighs. "My mom just texted me…my dad's for sure moving out," he informs her, keeping his voice down low.

Jade purses her lips and clutches his hand. "I'm sorry… It's gonna be okay," she whispers. "Do you want to go home?"

By the time the words leave her mouth, it becomes clear to the secretive couple that the room has fallen silent and all eyes are on them. When they look up at their friends, they see mixed looks of worry and curiosity on all of their faces.

"Is…everything okay?" Andre asks.

"Um… Yeah… I'm sorry, guys," Beck murmurs. "My, uh…my parents are splitting up, and things have just been tough lately."

It's quiet for a long several seconds, while Jade rests her head on his shoulder. He kisses her hair and keeps her hand locked into his.

Cat's innocent question is the first to break the silence. "Is that why Jade did all your problems for you?"

Beck can't help but smile a little as Robbie, Andre, and Tori begin to realize that—unlike how it usually is—none of his answers were wrong. "Yeah, Cat," he responds, "it is."

"She's nice, isn't she? She's the perfect person to go to when you're feeling sad," Cat gushes shyly, obviously proud of her best friend.

While Jade tries to hide her blush with an eyeroll, the rest of the group tries to hide their confusion about the redhead's statement.

"Jade?" Tori checks again.

"Yeah… _Jade_?" Robbie repeats.

Beck looks at his girl, the girl who has so kindly been taking care of him in his time of need; the girl who is constantly responding to his every text message about his parents' arguing; the girl who has done everything in her power to make sure he knows that she's supporting him.

"Yeah," Beck confirms. When he loops his arm around her body, she stares at him in perfect timing for him to press his lips against hers. He doesn't even take his eyes off of hers before speaking again. "Jade."

* * *

**I don't even know what that was.**


End file.
